Former University of Kansas and NBA basketball player Ben McLemore was sentenced to more than eight years in an Oregon state prison Wednesday, a week after a jury found him guilty of raping a 21-year-old woman at a house party in October 2021.
According to ESPN.com, the 32-year-old McLemore wore Clackamas County Jail inmate clothing during the sentencing hearing. A judge sentenced him to 100 months in prison. McLemore did not address the court.
A jury found McLemore guilty of one count of first-degree rape, one count of first-degree unlawful sexual penetration and one count of second-degree sexual abuse. He was found not guilty on a second count of second-degree sexual abuse.
McLemore had pleaded not guilty to all four charges. The case stemmed from a report of sexual assault in Lake Oswego, Oregon, on Oct. 3, 2021, at the home of NBA player Robert Covington, then a teammate of McLemore’s on the Portland Trail Blazers. McLemore, identified as a suspect, was arrested in April 2024.
Clackamas County First Assistant District Attorney Scott Healy issued the following statement to ESPN.com:
“Many people are often afraid to report this type of conduct for a number of reasons. Hopefully, the victim’s strength and courage in this case will give others the fortitude to come forward in circumstances where sexual assault has occurred. The sentence the defendant received today should serve as a reminder that this type of conduct will not be tolerated in our community, and that the Clackamas County DA’s Office will always work hard to hold offenders accountable and provide justice to victims.”
McLemore’s attorney, Kristen Winemiller - who, as part of the defense team, disputed the victim’s account of the incident - provided a statement to ESPN on Wednesday:
“We hope the Oregon Legislature will adopt a ‘second look’ process that would evaluate whether he should serve the entire 100-month sentence or whether, beyond the short alcohol-influenced encounter that led to this conviction, he is a considerate and humble person who has lived an honorable, community-focused life.”
The victim appeared via video and read a statement during the hearing, as reported by ESPN.com’s Baxter Holmes.
“This has been the longest almost four years of my life,” she said. “I never imagined that reporting this back in 2021 would lead to such an incredibly difficult and long journey. These last few years have often felt like a weight that I’ve had to drag behind me, a constant reminder of the trauma that I haven’t been able to fully work through because there was no ending in sight. I now understand, on a deep level, why so many victims hesitate or never report what happened to them.”